


Every time

by theycallmesuperboy



Category: Fantastic Four (Movieverse), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-07
Updated: 2012-05-07
Packaged: 2017-11-04 23:29:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/399387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theycallmesuperboy/pseuds/theycallmesuperboy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Steve is gone, all Tony has is a poor facsimile of him in Johnny Storm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Every time

**Author's Note:**

> For my greene-pears on tumblr.

It's nothing serious, not at first anyway, merely a casual fling that they both like far too much. Johnny gets mindless sex, and a scandal once the paparazzi catches sight of the hickeys on his neck. And for a few wonderful minutes, Tony gets to pretend he still has Steve. But then the reality of the situation sinks in, he sees all the ways that Johnny is not Steve, and how he will never be Steve. He sees through the lie, but he pushes it to the back of his mind, and moans out Steve's name because that’s all he has now.

The two of them could be brothers, Tony thinks, when he first meets Johnny. It’s an absent, fleeting thought, because Steve was still here back then, on Tony’s arm, laughing at his half-assed jokes at some party Tony won’t remember later. Johnny didn’t even compare to the American icon, in all his glory. But that was then and this is now, and Tony thinks it every time they’re together because he has to. Johnny isn’t Steve, isn’t even mildly like him, but for a moment, he can pretend.  
Johnny doesn’t mind, because it’s casual and it makes the scandal even better, because he looks just like Steve. The paparazzi have a field day with that one. Johnny knows he isn’t Steve, won’t ever be Steve, and one day, won’t be enough for Tony. But he doesn’t mind, he keeps telling himself, it’s casual. 

After a while, he stops trying to fool himself, because it isn’t working; he’s in love with Tony. Johnny only hopes he’s not as transparent around other people as he is with himself, but after that sympathetic look and gentle squeeze on his shoulder Susan gave him when she visited last week, he isn’t so sure. But his sister’s always been rather perceptive, so he tries not to lose hope. 

In Tony’s eyes, he only sees Steve. In Johnny’s eyes, he only ever sees Tony. Sees the way he’s not afraid to put himself in harm’s way to protect someone he endangered, his brilliance, and his demons. He wants to be the one Tony turns to to fight them, wants to be more than a poor facsimile of the man Tony loves. But he’s a hothead, literally, who’s nothing more than a faltering smile and a reputation that could run for miles. 

The aftermath of sex isn’t something Johnny particularly enjoys. Before, it was because he had to tell some unlucky girl or guy who draped himself or herself all over him, that he had to go. But now he craves that post-coital touch, and it’s him that’s being told, sorry, business, Pepper will be expecting me soon, and the awkward, uh, you can see yourself out. And it hurts. He sympathizes with everyone he ever did that to before, but it’s too late. He supposes it’s karma, and karma’s a bitch. 

Tony gets sympathetic looks from Natasha and the other Avengers, and a few of them even try to talk to him about it. He tells them that he didn’t even really notice the resemblance, but both parties know he’s lying. Pepper steps in at one point with a, what do you think you’re doing?, and an always rational, someone’s going to get hurt. He says, sorry we didn’t work out, and she stiffens and the subject drops. But it’s always hanging in the air between them. 

Peter Parker, no, Spider-man drops in on him one day. Tony didn’t even know he and the Human Torch were friends. Shows how much he knows about the guy he’s sleeping with. Peter leaves, and Tony doesn’t tell anyone he’d been there. 

Johnny isn’t Steve, Tony knows that. He, through some random combination of genes, just looks like him. Doesn’t have his 40’s charm, doesn’t wear his hair past a few centimeters, isn’t a super soldier. He tastes like Steve, too. He doesn’t know if that’s his imagination, or what. Doesn’t care. 

Johnny only sees Tony. But Tony only sees Steve. And that’s what breaks his heart every time.


End file.
